Samuel Shinedima
DIRECTOR General of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Paulus Noah and Prosecutor General of Namibia Martha Imalwa jointly face a legal fight against Selma Fimanekeni Mbome, a pensioner from Onekwaya-West in the Ohangwena Region.
Mbome submitted to the High Court of Namibia that she was arrested by ACC members in 2017, while in the employment of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration, on allegations of corruption.
Mbome, who was 59 years old at the time, was charged by the ACC officials with three counts of corruption in her then position as an Administrative Officer at the Ministry.
She was later granted bail of N$7 000 with conditions.
In July 2020, Mbome was found not guilty and subsequently acquitted of all charges.
According to the documents filed in court, the pensioner maintained there was no reasonable cause that warranted her detention, and not any proper investigations were conducted.
She equally expressed concerns about the lack of fairness of the prosecutorial delegation that dealt with her case, and for wrongfully and maliciously setting the law in motion, even when they did not have credible evidence to lead to her conviction.
While it was made clear at her first court appearance that the State had no evidence leading to her conviction, Mbome submitted that she suffered damages for wrongfully and malicious arrest, as well as the continuation of the prosecution thereafter, which lasted for over three years until her acquittal of the charges in 2020.
The pensioner averred that, as a result of this case, she suffered extreme injury to her reputation as she felt highly humiliated at the ripe age of 59 years.
She allegedly maintained serious injuries to her health, as she developed high blood pressure, which eventually became extremely chronic.
According to her, she later suffered from a stroke which led to a permanent dislocation of her eye, among others.
The pensioner indicated that she is now dependent on medication to live, has medical prescriptions to pay for and she wants to be compensated.
She further added that since the proceedings of the case she ran into debts, and this is after using up all savings and pension funds to cover both medical and legal costs, as well as the transport cost from Onekwaya-West to Windhoek.
Mbome is requesting a court order against the ACC Director, the Prosecutor General and the Government of Namibia as a whole to jointly compensate her in the amount of N$1,695,454, with an interest at the rate of 20% per annum, and the cost of suits.
The case was postponed to 14 July 2022 for a pre-trial hearing.
